PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS (Filename: 51XY.doc)
Project Title: 5.1. KOALAS
Authors: Katherine Slater and Mandy Kilburn
General comments
Pages held together in tatty, old blue plastic ring binder (plastic torn on corners, and down spine, inside and out, indicating much handling). In general, all paper is plain white A4; some pages very crumpled, others less so; pictures are hand drawn, outlined in pencil and coloured in with crayon. Any exceptions are noted below. Writing materials vary considerably. (Note: all pages without holes ready punched have holes punched in the side, by the child, for filing(except for those enclosed in transparent sleeves); often there are several sets of holes, indicating several attempts at positioning them, and 'draft' holes outlined in pen of pencil indicating care taken with this.)
Comments on individual pages.
photocopy from published source (fact file): picture coloured in with crayon; stuck onto front cover of plastic file, with short pieces of sellotape: top, bottom and sides; evidence of wear and tear: paper is creased at corners and torn along top; writing: title and author in black biro on self adhesive label stuck to file cover (note: (i) piece of sellotape extends over label indicating that it was stuck on before the photocopy) (ii) letters and doodle-like marks in blue biro (unclear whether these relate to this project) on plastic, partially hidden under photocopied sheet, indicate that these were written before the sheet was stuck on and may indicate that the file was used for another purpose)
Page 1. (inside cover) Surfaces: 2 sheets of paper positioned one over the other, each secured at centre top, bottom and sides with short pieces of sellotape : smaller sheet (containing picture) cut along bottom and partially cut / torn down left side, stuck (at an angle, sloping down to right) onto larger, lower sheet; sellotape also used to cover 3 sets of holes punched in lower sheet (note pencilled circles used for guidance in top set). writing: 'intro' title: thick fibretip (individual letters in different colours), underlining ruled; 'koalas' title and rest of text (including crossings out/corrections): black biro, (note: the underlining below 'Koalas' does not appear to be ruled)
Page 02 Surface: 4 holes punched on left; top left hole repaired with sellotape; pencil marks visible around holes indicate care taken with positioning; writing: thick fibretip (individual letters in different colours); lines across the page: ruled in different colours (note: slips of pen)
Page 03. Writing: title: outlined in pencil, coloured in with crayon and pencil (each letter a different colour, alternating pencil - crayon); rest of text: blue biro; underlining: in pencil, very faint ruled line, below all except last line of writing.
On reverse side of p3, incomplete pencil sketch (appears to be beginning of Koala climbing a branch of a tree)
Page 04. Surface: slightly damaged top left, indicates something previously stuck to surface, also quite crumpled in that corner: fibretip smudges at left and right show where lines of page 2 have run over onto sheets beneath (this suggests that pages 2 and 4 were produced by the same child, using the same pad of paper); writing: page no: blue biro; names of sea: pencil; names of areas of land: 2 layers: blue biro on top of pencil (indicating drafting); another earlier draft (erased words in pencil, framed in bubbles) visible beneath final version; 'New South Wales' is framed (circled), very lightly, in pencil; drawing: picture top left: 2 layers of pencil (bottom layer not very sharp, indicating tracing); map: outlined in pencil (erased pencil lines visible, indicating earlier drafting/tracing) with crayon around edge; dividing lines ruled in pencil (Note: original tracing enclosed in sleeve (p20) indicates where child has made alterations to the source text)
Page 05. Writing: words at top: 2 layers; black fibretip on top of pencil (very carefully written to follow the exact line of the earlier draft); words in map: most in pencil, one in black fibretip; underlining: faint ruled pencil line below top 2 lines; surface: strip cut off along top of page; (note: fibretip marks (of bottom of letters?) at top edge indicate that this may have been done to get rid of part of an earlier draft, as a form of alteration)
Page 06. Drawing: note range of colours (brown, green, blue and yellow crayon) and lightness of stroke; writing: page no: purple fibretip; rest of text: typed.
Page 07. Surface: 1" strip cut off along the bottom (why?); writing: page no: purple fibretip; rest of text: typed; Drawing: on white paper, stuck on with glue;
(note: (i) crayon marks extend onto lower sheet indicating crayoning completed after picture stuck on (ii) drip of glue extends in a diagonal strip from bottom of picture to bottom of page (iii) indented impression of holes indicate this page used to support another when holes were being drafted)
Page 08. Surface: 3 sets of holes punched on left; biro and pencil markings around and to side of holes (indicating care and difficulty in positioning holes) writing: page no: blue biro; names of children: pencil (note: erased writing in pencil, still visible below/under handwriting, shows several attempts at earlier drafting; there appear to be 2 earlier drafts of the word 'Kimberley', and one of each of the other words); rest of text: typed; drawing: shaded/coloured in pencil, crayon and fibretip
Page 09. Surface: 2 sets of holes; marks in pen (?) around final set (indicates care taken in positioning); Writing: page no: purple fibretip; names of children: pencil (note: no visible drafting here, unlike previous page); rest of text: typed
Page 10. Surface: 3 sets of holes punched, and biro marks (as on page 8, indicating some difficulty with positioning) ; writing: typed
Page 11. Photocopy: from published source (fact file); writing: page no. added by child: black biro
Page 12. Photocopy: from published source (fact file); writing: page no. added by child: black biro
Page 13. Photocopy: from published source (fact file); 2 sets of holes punched by child; writing: page no. added by child: black biro
Page 14. Surface: lined file paper; holes beginning to tear, writing (and crossings out): biro
Page 15. Surface: paper appears slightly crumpled; writing: top half: word processed and printed on dot matrix printer; bottom half: blue biro.
Page 16. Surface: paper appears slightly crumpled; writing: word processed and printed on dot matrix printer
Page 17. Surface: lined filepaper; writing and lines of puzzle: blue biro (note: underlining: wavy stroke)
Page 18. Surface: lined paper; holes ready punched on right and punched by child on left side (note: words on other side of page indicate that the child began earlier draft, then turned over the page and started again, hence the need to punch a new set of holes) ; writing: blue biro; tippex under word 'has'(bottom line, top paragraph), and under some of letters in puzzle, suggesting alterations to earlier draft; lines of grid: ruled in biro.
* On other side of p18, some writing in biro (top line: 'Koalas Companionship'; third line 'When Koalas') suggesting earlier draft started and then discarded.
* Following page 18 there are 8 empty plastic sleeves, then 2 plastic sleeves containing what appear to be earlier drafts:
Item in first sleeve:
Surface: single sheet (half page of writing entitled 'Animals'): writing (and corrections): biro
Items in second sleeve: (note: sleeve itself has scribbled lines in blue and black biro on the front cover)
(i) surface: sheet of A4 tracing paper; drawings and words: two tracings in pencil (some areas are made up of 2 layers of pencil: one light (the initial tracing) and one heavier (used for transferring tracing), also note scribbled lines in pencil on reverse side of sheet (used for purpose of transferring tracings onto another sheet); (note: the larger tracing looks as if it could be basis of picture on p7 but the heavier lines only cover a small part of the drawing, indicating that the whole tracing was not transferred; in the other tracing (a small picture of mother koala with baby on back) the heavier lines cover the whole drawing, but it doesn't appear to have been used in the final version of the project)
(ii) surface: sheet of white A4 paper (blank)
(iii) surface: sheet of A4 tracing paper; single straight line: traced in pencil (in broken strokes) down one side
(iv) surface: sheet of white A4 paper; drawing, writing, framing: tracing in pencil of a map, animals (framed in boxes) around it, and names of areas framed in bubbles, within and around it; half coloured in with various shades of green crayon (note: this is very similar to the one on p4, but with more pictures of animals; indicating that these were removed in the later draft)
(v) surface: sheet of tracing paper; drawing, writing, framing: original pencil tracing of map (ie the one used as basis for the map on the previous sheet. and the map on page 4), with pictures of animals (emu, platypus, kangaroo as well as koalas) framed in boxes, and names of areas framed in bubbles (including Tasmania, Potato Blight and Pacific Ocean) (Note: this tracing is useful as it indicates alterations that the child has made to the original; the parts outlined in 2 layers of pencil indicate those parts transferred for inclusion in the project and scribbled lines in soft pencil on back show technique used for transfer of tracing)